Jade's Replica
by AlithiaSigma
Summary: Dist went and replicated Jade. The replica doesn't act like Jade. Set right at the end of the game. The only pairings are the confirmed canon pairings, at least as far as I know. Rated K plus just in case. The replica is the OC, just in case you didn't notice.
1. Meet the Replica

**Authour's Note:** Though the main focus of this story is Jade's replica, there will be one chapter for Asch. It is (I hope) an AU fic, or more correctly, an AT (Alternate Timeline) fic, due to what is considered canon and the fact that my story has a replica of Jade in it. I don't own Tales of the Abyss, I don't own Jade, I don't own replication, and I don't own the concept of replicating Jade. I do, however, own this one Jade replica. Steal him if you will/dare. Oh, and Jade will be a little OOC, due to the shock of Dist's action of having made a replica of him, and the replica himself is not like really like Jade. Who would ever have thought that it would be so...awkward...

* * *

"We should be heading back soon. The valley is dangerous at night." said Jade. Tear thought of when she first came to the valley with Luke. It was night, and he was a senseless, idiotic, and childish noble. So much had changed now. Her brother's plans to destroy Auldrant and replace it with a replica world had failed and ended with his demise.

She turned to leave, along with Anise, Natalia, Jade, and Guy, but thought she saw something, and turned back. It was a red-haired young man with white clothes and a black cloak walking towards the group. She gasped, and everyone else turned back to see the person. Tear got up and walked towards him, stopping only a few feet away.

"Why are... you here?" she asked.

"This place has a nice view of Hod... and also... I promised someone."

Tear walked over to him and hugged him, crying. Guy, Anise, and Natalia followed. Anise reached Tear and Luke first, hugging them both tightly. Natalia joined in as well. Guy hesitated, eying the three women, but joined the group hug. Jade merely looked at him and smiled faintly.

After the hugs were over, Jade nodded in acknowledgement over to Luke, not wanting to hug him. Luke nodded back.

"Well then, shall we be going?" asked Jade to the overly, but rightly happy group of people. They all turned around to exit the valley. Jade was in the front with Anise and Guy close behind, keeping a respectful distance from each other. Natalia walked behind them, almost in between Guy and Anise, though Guy didn't notice. Tear and Luke were in the back, holding each others hands. The walk was peaceful, besides a couple easily-dealt-with monsters.

"Oh, Natalia, I have to tell you something." said Luke, walking away from Tear and towards Natalia to walk beside her.

"What is it, Luke?" replied Natalia.

"Asch is alive." Natalia stopped in her tracks, mouth agape in surprise. "He's going back to Baticul."

"But... but how is that possible?" asked a pleasantly shocked Natalia.

"It was Lorelei. After we freed it, it healed Asch, and brought him back to life." Natalia smiled. Jade smiled too, listening in, but no one noticed.

"That's wonderful! I'll have Father prepare a room for him in the palace."

"Didn't he say he was never going back to Baticul?" asked Guy, rubbing the back of his head.

"As a matter of fact, he said he was never returning to the Fon Fabre manor, though I doubt his parents would allow that. By the way, how did you manage to persuade Asch to return to Baticul?" said Jade, without turning around.

"Well, I told him that Natalia would miss him, and he agreed." answered Luke, certain that answer would be enough. Jade smiled knowingly, but didn't press the matter. It was obvious enough as it is. He glanced back, seeing that Luke had indeed gone back to holding Tear's hand. He looked back to where he was going and stopped. Everyone else stopped as well, confused. There was someone, a little less than a hundred meters away, waving at the party, and approaching them. The party could tell that the figure either had brownish hair, or was wearing something on their head, and was wearing something long and white.

"Hey, who's that over there? Do you know them, Jade?" asked Luke.

Jade regained his composure. "I highly doubt it. They seem to be wanting our attention, though I'm wondering what anyone would be doing out here at this time."

The person had approached substantially closer, and everyone could make them out a little better. The brown stuff was indeed long, brown, hair, and the white thing seemed to be some kind of lab coat. They seemed to be about six feet tall, but their gender wasn't clearly discernible at the distance. Something about them seemed very familiar to the party, especially to Luke. The way they walked, their height, almost everything they could see at their current distance looked like something the group was certain they had seen before, many times. Luke turned to Guy and asked.

"Hey, Guy, do you recognize that person? She seems familiar. I think she may have been one of the maids or something."

"No. I know all of the maids, and whoever they are, they certainly aren't one of them. But you're right, they do look familiar." answered Guy, turning to face Luke. Guy was very popular among the maids, and though his gynophobia had improved, he still didn't feel comfortable to their attentions the few times he returned to Luke's manor in Baticul.

"I agree. I'm certain I've seen them. It may be someone we've seen frequently." said Tear. Guy and Luke turned to Tear and started discussing about people they know, male and female alike, and how likely it would be for the same person they didn't know to pass them by frequently enough for them to recognize them.

Anise turned to Jade as if she were going to say something, but said nothing and turned back to Luke, Guy, and Tear. Natalia seemed to have her head in the clouds, and wasn't paying enough attention to notice that everyone, including herself, had stopped walking.

By this point in the conversation, the person in question was within earshot and said to the group, "May I be directed to Grand Chokmah? I fear I've become rather lost."

Everyone, including Natalia and excluding Jade, spun around to face what sounded like Jade's voice. Jade didn't have to turn, as he was already looking at the source.

It was Jade. It looked exactly like Jade. Same light brown hair, same dark red eyes, even the same glasses. Actually, everyone immediately figured that it was Jade's replica, as recently, replicas had become a very common occurrence in their lives. They all stared at him for a moment, wondering who and how a replica of Jade even came about, until the replica spoke again.

"Seriously, Jade? How disappointing." said the replica, smiling more broadly than anyone in the current company had seen Jade smile, "I was expecting a more... verbose response." Jade quickly regained his composure, if he had lost it at all, and replied,

"My apologies. I was merely astounded by the sheer audacity of Dist's act to perform fomicry in such a manner. Was that sufficiently verbose?"

The replica chuckled. "Yep, got it in one. Dist the Whiny, or "Saphir" as he liked to call himself. I expect a lot of questions from you. You too, if you'd like." he motioned to the rest of the party. "First, you would probably want to know why I was heading to Grand Chokmah. I was planning to tell the Emperor about an illicit replication facility in Ortion cavern and ask him to have it deactivated. But I'm sure you and your troupe would be fine."

"Great... First Dist says we're the 'Jade Gang' and now we're his 'troupe?' What next? Jade and company?" said Guy, who didn't like the idea of putting Jade in charge, considering how he ordered them around when he wasn't in charge, getting Guy to explain the situation to others at every possible opportunity.

The replica found this amusing and laughed. "Ha, ha, ha. No need to worry. Since I'm the only one who knows how to get to that part of the cavern, I'll be leading you people for this expedition."

"At least he laughs like Jade." said Luke, who was noticing how this replica was saying things he never expected to hear in Jade's voice.

"I thought everyone would be glad that he _isn't_ like the Colonel." said Anise.

"Well, yeah, but... It's just so weird listening to him. I mean, Jade inviting us to ask questions? Heh, I bet it was like this when you and Natalia first met me after the so-called 'rescue.'" said Luke.

"It wasn't really that bad. Back then, we just blamed it on amnesia." responded Guy.

"Yes. Myself especially." added Natalia.

"You mentioned something about a replication facililty?" said Jade, trying to get the group back on track.

"Yes I did. If you know how to get to Ortion Cavern, I can lead the way." replied his replica

"Then we'll take a boat from Chesedonia to Sheridan. Let's find a more suitable camp site for the night"

-[...]-

Luke was on night watch and Jade's replica wasn't asleep yet.

"So, umm... Hey, what should we call you? I mean... do you have a name?" asked Luke, nervously. He wasn't entirely sure how to ask the question.

"Well, Dist called me Jade, but it would be rather confusing if you called both of us by the same name. Still, there are plenty of options; You could call me Jade's Replica, and embarrass yourselves, you could call me Jade and call him Colonel, you could call us by our last names, which would mean calling him 'Curtiss' and myself 'Balfour'. You could also call me by some other name, but I can't promise that I will respond. If those choices do not appeal to you, I do answer to 'Hey, you!'." answered Replica Jade Balfour, aka "Hey, you!"

"Okay... Well, I was wondering... How old are you?"

Jade's replica grinned. He was finally being asked questions.

"I was created on my original's thirtieth birthday. That was approximately six years ago. After finding out that perfect replicas were possible without harming the original, Saphir tried to find a way to get Jade's replica data. He wanted Jade to return to what he thought was normal, and thought a replica would be like him. Although, I have no idea why he would think making a replica of Jade as a grown man would be similar to having Jade as if he were still a child in Keterburg. Perhaps he was an idiot after all."

Luke was once again surprised by the replica. Jade didn't like explaining things and went out of everyone's way to explain as little as possible. The replica in question noticed this and widened his grin.

"As you can see, " he continued, "He failed. Epically. I'm sure you haven't finished asking questions...?"

"What was it like, being raised by Dist?" asked Luke, less awkwardly than he asked the first two questions.

"I liked it. It was funny seeing him react every time I didn't act like the Jade he knew. Which was often, and usually deliberate. Saphir would go on and on about Jade. He would talk about how great a friend Jade was to him, then go on in great detail about how Jade made him do errands and frequently left him out in the cold. Time like this made me wonder whether or not he was an idiot. He also let me read a lot of books. He got excited whenever I asked for a book on fomicry, and always ended up getting about half a dozen books written by Jade. When Saphir left for his job as a God-General, I used to get worried. Sometimes he'd leave for months. Later I just assumed he was immortal, as he would always return to the cavern, sometimes with terrible injuries. Then he didn't come back, so when I was sure he wouldn't come back, I left."

Jade's replica was still grinning, but noticeably less.

"You know, he isn't dead. Last time I saw, he was getting arrested in Grand Chokmah for breaking the ban on replicating living things. He's probably still there. He broke a bunch of other laws as well." informed Luke.

"You mean like murder, theft, and bribery? I know what he did. Saphir always told me what he was doing when he was away. He made everything sound like a grand adventure and boasted about every little thing he did."

The two of them sat there for a bit. Luke decided that he didn't feel comfortable asking any more question that night.

"Well, I guess I should be getting some sleep." said Jade's replica. And he did.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry for people being OOC. Jade's replica is six years old. The next chapter is the one which is more focused on Asch. It won't be very relevant to the rest of the plot. This story in general is supposed to be a little fluffy.


	2. Asch fluff

**Author's Note: **This is about what happened to Luke and Asch right after Eldrant blows up and they're trying to find a way back to the rest of the world. They also discuss what they're doing next. It is mostly irrelevant to the main plot of this story, but this story is pretty fluffy anyways. There's also the fact that... Actually, I don't want to spoilers. You are still entirely justified to skip it. People may be a bit OOC. Actually, they'd probably be OOC.

* * *

Eldrant had been destroyed by the sheer force of Lorelei's exodus of Van's body, causing what was left of Van's physical form to be annihilated into fonons, which disappeared along with Lorelei into the fon belt, leaving Luke with a healed, but still unconscious Asch in his arms in the midst of the wreckage, completely unscathed. Knowing that Asch would probably be more than a little upset if he woke up in Luke's arms, he gently laid Asch down on a relatively flat piece of ground.

He then searched his pockets, ignoring an assortment of gels and bottles and a dragon's claw he kept from the Coliseum until he found a small drawstring bag. One of the villagers from Engeve had given it to him when he helped evacuate the people of Engeve when the land was falling. Well, actually, they gave it to Tear, who healed the person's foot, but she handed it to Luke, as he was in charge of buying provisions. This may seem strange, but it was because the bag itself produced all sorts of cooking ingredients seemingly out of thin air. Jade had speculated something about fonons becoming ingredients inside the bag, but Luke didn't really understand how that could work. What he did understand was that because of the bag would allow Asch and him to have something to eat while looking for a way to get out of the ruin that was Eldrant.

After opening the bag, it procured some dry noodles, raw meat of some sort, probably beef, and dry seaweed. He then took out a pot from his pack and a canteen of water. He then searched the rubble for something to make a fire with. This was no easy task, as the rubble was mostly stone and had fallen down in large, steep piles. He did manage to find a few small pieces of wood and cleared a spot to make a fire, about five feet away from the still-unconscious Asch. He then started to try to cook ramen.

-[...]-

Asch woke up to the smell of seaweed. He was about to wonder about how in the world he was alive and question where he was, but he saw something definitely and fundamentally _wrong_. His replica was sitting in front of boiling noodles, which were quickly turning into mush with already-mush seaweed, and meat, which was in a single large lump and probably barely cooked; holding cooking utensils. There were two bowls beside him.

"What do you think you're doing, idiot?" he said, getting up, storming over to Luke and almost tripping on a rock.

"Oh, Asch, you're awake!" said Luke, cheerily. "I'm cooking." Luke pointed at the pot.

"Here. Give me that." Asch said, angrily, grabbing the utensils out of Luke's hands and scooping the mush in the bowls, hoping to salvage the noodles before the mush degraded into slime. Then he grabbed the knife, which was with the other utensils and, seeing no place to cut the meat, cut the lump of meat inside the pot, revealing the completely uncooked inside. He then motioned Luke away and sat in front of the pot, making sure all pieces of meat were being evenly cooked and using the fifth fonon to adjust the temperature of the cooking fire.

-[...]-

The meal turned out much better than Luke would have ever hoped. It was still terrible, but this time, the ramen wasn't charred and the meat was actually cooked. He'd never thought of cutting the meat into pieces _before_ cooking it and often wondered how everyone else managed to cook decent meals.* He noticed Asch inspecting himself. His clothes had three large, distinctive tears where he was stabbed by the swords that killed him, but the skin underneath was unwounded. His clothes were also generally tattered from the fight with the soldiers, and other battles, but he held no scars or marks of having ever been wounded. He suspected that it had something to do with Lorelei, because Lorelei is the seventh fonon itself, and the seventh fonon is used to heal. It even brought Van back to health and raised Sync from the dead, so bringing Asch back wouldn't really be a big deal for it.

Asch was still scowling his customary scowl and was not speaking. After a few moments of awkward silence, Luke decided to break it. "We defeated Van"

"I know." Asch replied.

"And freed Lorelei."

"I know. I doubt I could even be here if you didn't." Asch said, a little irritated. "Now why don't we find a way out of this place?"

-[...]-

Asch and Luke were trying to figure out the best way and place to clear the debris and leave what was left of Eldrant.

"It's going to take years..." complained Luke, dejectedly.

"I doubt it. It was going to be roughly the same size of Hod, which isn't big for an island, and it hadn't even been completed yet." replied Asch.

"But all this junk's in our way..."

"Then let's move it." Asch said, pointing at an area which the pieces of debris seemed smaller and using a fonic arte to move a few stones aside.

-[...]-

"This is going to take ages!" complained Asch, using a large piece of wood to try to dislodge a rock that was in his way. It wasn't working as well as he wished,

"I thought you were the one who said it wasn't." replied Luke, carrying some stones and rocks away from their potential escape route.

"Shut up!" yelled an annoyed Asch, smashing a large stone to pieces not too far from where Luke was. Luke briefly thought about how the two of them had so much in common, which reminded him of one thing they most definitely did not have in common, and decided to broach the subject as tactfully as he could manage.

"Hey Asch," started Luke, after successfully moving a rock from point A to point B and going back to point A, which was where Asch was.

"What now?" asked Asch, smashing rocks with fonons, so that Luke could actually move them from point A to point B without the use of fon machines which they didn't have.

"What are you going to do when we get back out of Eldrant? Will you be going to Baticul?" asked Luke.

Asch stopped and turned to Luke, who had also stopped. After a short and slightly awkward pause, Asch said "What reason do I have to go there? There isn't anything left for me in Baticul!"

Before Asch could start complaining that his replica took away everything, an undeterred and actually _grinning _Luke said, "Really? Not even Natalia? I mean, how are you going to change the country together if you're going to stay away from her? And don't try to make it my problem. You were the one who promised her, not me."

Asch was fuming. "You shouldn't eavesdrop." he said, coldly. The silence between them after that seemed to have lasted for ages.

-[...]-

Fortunately, because of a combination of Luke's magic bag, Asch's cooking skills, and fonic artes, the duo actually managed to survive the long and arduous journey back to the surface.

"So, now what?" asked Luke.

Though they were on nicer terms than they had ever been, the "friendship" between the two was still more or less uneasy.

"What do you think? I don't care about you, but I'm going to Baticul."

* * *

*No, everyone else does not include Natalia in this case.

* * *

**Author's Note:** More fun to write than it has any right to be. Yeah, it was almost entirely fluff. Notice how not once did Asch call Luke "replica" or "dreck". That was intentional. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe!


	3. To the Distcave!

**Author's Note:** Now that we're done with that, let's move on. This chapter should be fun.

* * *

The party had an uneventful boat ride from Chesedonia to Sheridan.

Jade, Luke, Tear, Natalia, Guy and Anise immediately started walking over to the aircraft dock. After admiring the town for a few moments, Jade's replica followed, not entirely sure where everyone was going.

En route, the group encountered a young lady with short blond hair, goggles, and a comfortable-looking jacket.

"Hi Noelle!" said Luke, "We were wondering if we could borrow the Albiore for a while."

"Oh, hey everyone! You're just in time. We've finished the Albiore IV! Ginji's going to be taking it out for a test run." said Noelle. "I'll ask if you could borrow it afterwards. Want to watch?"

Guy looked towards Jade's replica with pleading eyes that said "Please say we have time for this, please!"

Jade's replica stepped forward from vaguely behind the group. Noelle looked surprised, but before she could mention the fact that there were two Jades, he said, "Sure, I haven't seen a test flight of anything, besides new chair prototypes. Oh, let me introduce myself. I'm his replica." he pointed his thumb behind him, where Jade was standing.

"Hello. I'm Noelle, one of the Albiores' pilots. My brother Ginji's the other one." replied Noelle. Though she was surprised that Jade had a replica, she wasn't especially so. About half of everyone she'd known, both living and dead, had one. She turned and lead the group over to the observation post.

-[...]-

Though the test flight was just a trip around the Meggiora Highlands, Guy and the replica watched like two children; transfixed and in awe of the flying fon machine.

"Wow, Jade," said Jade's replica, "that thing's more impressive than you are!"

"Ah," replied Jade, "so in your opinion, I've been upstaged by a ton of flying metal" with his customary unreadable smile.

"You know, when you say that, it makes me wonder what exactly you're thinking..." commented his replica.

Noelle returned. "Okay, where did you guys want to go?"

-[...]-

"Stop here."

Noelle stopped the Albiore where Jade's replica said to instead of parking it at the entrance of Ortion Cavern, which is what she thought she was going to do.

"You see those whirlpools over there?" Noelle nodded. "Land the Albiore in the water right next to them." Puzzled, Noelle did as she was told. Jade's replica opened the maintenance hatch on the ceiling of the Albiore and climbed out.

"Hey! What are you doing?" asked Anise.

"Just watch." answered the replica, muffled by the noise of the whirlpool. He stood on the top of the Albiore and the people heard a voice that sounded similar to Dist's, if he had a cold, or plugged his nose, say "Keterburg, Jade, Rose, Nebilim" loudly. Suddenly, the noise stopped, and a 'thunk' was heard. Noelle saw the whirlpools had disappeared and a large opening appeared in the cliff side.

Jade's replica jumped back into the Albiore and landed crouched. He stood up and closed the maintenance hatch. "That was Saphir's passcode you just heard. He nodded to Jade. "I apologize for his tactlessness."

"How were you able to mimic Dist's voice?" asked Guy.

"Because the seventh fonon is the fonon of sound, if you manipulate it the right way, you can sound like anything you want. Since replicas are made mostly with the seventh fonon, I can use it while my original," he put an arm around said original, "can't. If you know Jade, you are probably very afraid right now." He had a broad grin on his face.

Jade looked slightly annoyed, which was much more than anyone remembered him seeming. This meant that he was probably very annoyed. Those who knew him well, which meant no one in the current party, may have been able to see that Jade was also a little disturbed.

Noelle had parked right outside the new entrance and everyone walked into the cavern. The cavern is mostly dirt and rock, with a few glittering stones here and there. The walls are rough, but the floor was leveled, presumably for ease of walking. There were many parts that were not flattened, which are lower than the floor level and flooded with water that flows in from the ocean underneath the cliff wall. A few meters away from the entrance were broken machines. They looked like they were smashed with a large boulder. Further in, the group could see empty cages separated from the main path, literally by a few meters of flooded trench, with control panels beside them.

"Did those cages hold anything recently?" asked Natalia, who was looking around.

"Yes they did," answered Jade the replica, "Cheagles. Saphir spent a good deal of his free time experimenting on them. He spent the rest of his free time on me. He did take care of them, but minimally. I thought they'd be happier out of the cages, but I'm not entirely sure where they went. When I released them, they headed for the entrance, but when I went to see where they were going, they were all gone."

He lead the party to an incongruous-looking door in the middle of one of the inner walls.

"Before we move on to removing fomicry machines, I want to check on some things." He then opened the door, and he and the party walked in. Immediately, six of little robots gathered around the replica and said "Jade!" "Jade's back!" and various greetings in tinny, electronic voices. Then they noticed the original and three went to crowd him. Sounding confused, they all started to say things like, "Jade?", "Is this Jade...?", and "Saphir, is that you?" Jade's replica laughed.

"He's the original." he said. "You guys still remember I'm a replica, right?" after they nodded in a rather awkward way, he continued. "Guys, meet the robots. They don't have names, so I can't introduce them. They usually kept me company when Saphir wasn't around. You see that one with the green lights? I built him myself. The rest are improvements upon and replicas of the original, now-destroyed Barrelow, who was Saphir's favourite toy. They're rather useful and intelligent. Aren't you?" He said the last part while patting one of the robots on the head.

"We're always happy to help you, Master Jade!" it said.

"Hmm?" he asked, "What's with the 'Master' all of a sudden?"

"Well," it said, "We were thinking, that now there's two Jades, and you are, in many ways, our master, that to reduce confusion, we would call you 'Master Jade' and the other one 'Other Jade'. We hope you don't mind."

"Aren't they the cleverest things?" 'Master' Jade said to the group, while picking up the robot and holding it in his arms.

"They're adorable!" said Natalia, kneeling down to the one the replica Jade had said he made. Tear was blushing, obviously thinking about how cute they are.

"Can I hold one?" asked Guy, looking like he wanted to snatch one and bring it home with him.

"I don't see why not. In fact, if they don't mind, you can bring them home with you. After this, I don't think I'll be coming back here much." he answered

"I still think Tokunaga's cuter." said Anise, while following Guy, who was now holding a robot, Natalia, and Tear. Luke went and looked at the room. He also wanted to play with the robots, but there really wasn't much space left. The room was larger than he expected, and unlike the rest of the cave, could have been a room in practically any house. The walls were smooth and painted white. There was a bed, a dresser, and a desk. The desk and the dresser had several books on it, and the desk had a small bookcase on it, which was already overstuffed with books. The floor had carefully-stacked piles of books, and there was a fishing pole right next to the door. The fishing pole really looked out of place.

"Hey, Jade," he started. Both Jades looked at him. "Um, I mean other Jade," The original Jade had an amused smile as they both said "Yes, Luke?" "Sorry, I meant replica Jade." "Yes, Luke?" he said again. "Do you fish?" said Luke, motioning towards the pole. "Yes, I do." he answered. "Usually when I'd finished reading and was waiting for Saphir to come back. He never actually brought enough books."

Jade's replica then went and picked up a book off the desk and stuck it in his pocket along with and pen that was also on the desk. He then took the fishing pole and put it over his back. He took the hook, pulled it across his front, and attached it to the other end of the pole.

"If everyone's finished," said Jade, "shall we be going?"

They all headed outside the room. Luke saw a door, but didn't say anything as Jade's replica headed to a wall and smashed a hole in it using a fonic arte. He then walked in, and everyone followed, Inside, there was a fomicry machine.

"See that machine there? It's meant to replicate that wall there," he pointed at the part of the wall he broke. The wall was already showing signs of being rebuilt by fomicry, with incomplete material stretching from the sides of the hole. "so that it is pretty much undetectable." He then used a similar fonic arte to the one he used on the wall and destroyed the machine. "I would be destroying these by myself, but, besides this room and possibly a few others, the system is full of replicated monsters and guards, more than I could deal with, even with the robots helping me. But I'm sure that Jade would be able to take care of them by himself." he said with a smile and a wink at Jade. Jade adjusted his glasses and hid his eyes behind the glare that shone off them.

"Well then, let's go!" said the replica Jade, motioning everyone to follow.


	4. Angst

**Author's Note: **The lack of reviews is getting a little distressing. I don't mind uncreative comments. Replica Jade is supposed to be a bit of a chatterbox, and continue to expect Jade to be OOC. Having a replica is awkward business. Especially when that replica is about thirty years younger than you are.

Even though I know the incantations, don't expect me to type them when the characters are using the associated arte. That's just be long and not very interesting.

* * *

The group emerged through the next shattered wall. This time, there were a few goblin-like things running around the room, with a large replication machine in the center. Luke and Guy ran forwards, drawing their swords and attacking. Natalia drew her bow and started firing, almost faster than the eye could see. Tear started concentrating, as a fonic glyph appeared on the ground, and Anise placed Tokunaga on the ground and waited for it to grow. Jade, on the other hand, calmly stepped forward, and with a flick of his wrist, was holding his spear. His replica stared at him, with a mixture of horror, surprise, and amazement on his face that had gone entirely unnoticed. He quickly stopped staring and started casting an arte on the replication machine with his teeth tightly clenched.

A few seconds later, the fon machine violently exploded, and its debris was disintegrated into fonons. Shortly after that, the goblins were killed. Jade's replica was glaring at Jade with a gaze that seemed both sad and angry, but didn't say anything. Jade noticed that his right hand was tightly clenched. Jade adjusted his glasses and sighed. "I may as well tell you now, as, considering your policy with questions, you would ask me later regardless." He walked towards his replica. The replica didn't flinch. Jade lifted his his replica's right arm in his hands and said, "Concentrate on the fon slots in you right arm." His replica complied and a spear appeared suddenly in it. The replica stared at it, shocked, and nearly dropped it. He made it disappear and continued on without a word.

-[...]-

"The reason I'm not going though the openings is because they lead to useless rooms built by Saphir and are full of monsters and traps. They also only lead to dead ends. Saphir thought he could trick trespassers into getting themselves injured, then eventually killed, but anyone who'd even know about this place would have noticed that the true openings rebuild themselves, not that there is many of us, and if all goes well, there would be no need for anyone else to come here altogether. Either way, I read a map of this place, so you needn't worry about running into dead ends or anything." Jade's replica had completely ignored his original for the journey, and only talked to answer the others' questions. This time, he was answering Natalia's question on why there were other passages and why he was avoiding them.

He destroyed yet another wall, but instead of leading to yet another room with monsters and and a replication machine, the next room was much larger, with a door and a control room was more dimly lit than the countless other rooms. Jade's replica walked over to the control panel and flipped it open. Out of the dark, a familiar voice said, "Unauthorized user. Die by the creations of the magnificent Dist the Rose." The voice belonged to Legretta, but it was a lifeless monotone. Before anyone had a chance to think or act, they were blinded by overhead lights, and a replica of Sync had already approached Jade's replica. Replicas of the other God-Generals appeared and converged the rest of the group, preventing them from getting near Jade's replica.

Another flash of light appeared, and the replica standing in front of Jade's replica was suddenly on the floor, impaled by a spear. He picked up the spear, looking at it with distaste. And instant later, battle erupted. Dist's replicas fought silently and mercilessly, their primary target being Jade's replica, who was trying to keep them at bay with fonic artes. Anise, Guy, and Luke tried to distract them, with a little success, but the replicas quickly turned back to attacking their figurative 'brother' after a few seconds. Natalia was constantly having to heal Jade's replica, who was still refusing to draw his spear. Jade and Tear were pummeling them with a series of artes, but were only able to distract the altered replicas for a few seconds each time. The Legretta replica heavily favoured her fontech guns, and took turns aiming at Jade's replica and everyone else. The Largo replica, having a hard time getting a solid hit at Jade's replica, who had retreated to a more defensible corner, turned to the others more frequently. The Asch replica acted as if it didn't know what fonic artes were and tried to slice his target with his sword. The Arietta replica, not having any monster replicas to help her, just kept casting artes onto Jade's replica. There was no Dist replica. The replicas were much stronger than their already-mighty originals, and were barely scratched by Luke and Guy's attacks.

"They're... not even...human." muttered Luke, narrowly blocking the Largo replica's scythe.

"Do you think we can get out of this room?" asked Guy, running to avoid the Legretta replica's bullets.

"Not as long as those replicas keep trapping him there." said Tear, having just cast a Holy Lance, hitting the Arietta and Asch Replicas, which barely made the Arietta replica flinch. Nobody needed any explanation. The replicas of the God-Generals were clearly trapping Jade's replica in the corner near the door.

Jade had finished casting Divine Saber by pulling the lingering fonons from Tear's Holy Lance back into another arte. He adjusted his glasses and shouted, "Attack Arietta!" before shouting out the incantation for Prism Sword.

Luke wondered why Jade chose Arietta. Legretta was being more of a hindrance to both Jade's replica and the rest of the party with her quick shooting and her rapid artes. Nonetheless, he complied. Half a second later, Jade's replica started casting, performing a rather impressive Flare Tornado timed perfectly after Jade's Prism Sword, taking full advantage of the large amount of fonic energy the arte left over. Immediately after that, Guy performed the complicated fonic strike arte maneuver called Dragon Tempest, pulling the replica in. The force of the two artes blew the Arietta replica around Guy's furious ball of wind and sword, essentially turning it into a living ragdoll barely long enough for Jade's replica to take advantage of the opening and dash out, leading the Asch replica to get hit by the Arietta replica, who had just been released from the cage of wind. They both got up more quickly than any living thing should have and started chasing Jade's replica.

"We're getting out of here!" shouted Jade's replica, racing towards the exit. Everyone followed suit and rushed out of the room. Jade's replica was the last one out. He spun around and slammed a rock into the entrance using the second fonon.

"What...what was that?" asked Guy, out of breath.

"Dist..." said Jade, grimly.

"Saphir... why did you do this?" Jade's replica had his right hand on his face and was leaning on the blockage he created.

"That was horrible." said Natalia. "Those replicas were..."

"Souless monsters. Saphir obviously tampered with the replication data before creating them. Now, they're worse off than robots..." Jade's replica was obviously upset. "I never thought Dist would _disgust_ me like this. To make replicas of people and take away everything they are. To use them only to fight. It seems I sorely overestimated him. What else did he hide from me?"

The replica's voice had a sense of hatred that no one had ever heard from Jade. Such raw emotion in the voice of their stoic companion frightened them. Jade walked up to his replica.

"My apologies. I assumed too much of what you knew of Dist."

"It's not your fault, Jade. I'm an idiot to have believed that deceitful lizard really told me the truth. However, we have two choices ahead of us. Move forward and come up with some way to get past those creatures, or go back and ask someone for help. Luke, why don't you decide?" Jade's replica said, giving Jade an odd look.

"I think everyone's still busy dealing with those other replicas," Luke looked towards Natalia, who nodded. "and this is probably the weakest those replicas we just fought will be, so-"

"So we move on. I see Tear has been making good use of our time. They'll likely get through the barrier eventually. Last time, they caught us by surprise. This time, I think things will be different." Jade's replica drew his spear. "Is everyone ready?"

* * *

**Author's note**: To be honest, I did not expect Jade's replica to react so strongly to either Jade's spear or the God-General replicas. Is it just me, or did the story get a deal more intense? It's certainly not what I first imagined when I decided to write this thing. I'll try to make the next chapter more lighthearted, I promise! This story is supposed to be about humor and fluff, not angst.

Jade's replica is not done talking to Jade, and a bit of angst would undoubtedly show when they start discussing it. And if Jade's replica sees Dist, they'll also have things to talk about. Otherwise, I'm pushing for humor and fun stuff all the way.

Don't forget to review and/or fave and follow. I think I mixed those up with like, comment, and subscribe a few chapters ago. This isn't Youtube.


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